Friday Poll Day: What’s Your Preferred Design for South Figueroa

We’ve already given some coverage to the South Figueroa corridor project funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency, highlighting some very progressive designs that the project team has put out. With a pair of public meetings on deck for next Tuesday and Thursday, I thought we should bring back our “Friday Poll Day” series for Streetsbloggers to weigh in on which of the three designs we’ve seen thus far that they like best.

Er…I’m having a hard time determining what the differences are. Here’s my best interpretation:

#1 has a streetcar, one car lane for through traffic in each direction, and a sort of sidewalk-lane on the right for local traffic and bikes.

#2 has no streetcar, and no sidewalk lane, but has protected bike lanes and some sort of lane over on the left for…joggers?

#3 just has vehicle lanes, and lots of sidewalk space.

I like that none of the options have street parking cluttering things up. I like the streetcar (are funds available) but I think the sidewalk-lane is asking for disaster. Protected bike lanes would be nice; I can see the through lanes being constantly clogged, and it would be nice to be able to go through on a bike without dodging stopped cars. But the lanes don’t really need the planted buffer around them if car speeds are going to be slow.

So I like #1, but get rid of the sidewalk-lane and add bike lanes.

I suppose that getting rid of the through lanes for cars is off the table?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22038157@N05/sets/72157624046332773/ James Fujita

Option 2 needs the Beatles.

Ah well. I voted for #1 because its the only one which shows streetcar tracks.

LAofAnaheim

I don’t see any point of a streetcar along Figueroa. The Expo Line will be a block away on Flower street essentially covering the same route (between 7th street and Exposition). It’s a waste of money that is better for a streetcar route within the downtown core (Grand Avenue via Broadway/Historic Core to LA Live!). So, I vote for #2, I like the protected bike lane idea.

As long as we have 2 bike lanes (north/south), a bus-only lane, and 2 each north-south bound car lanes…I think that’s a great project.

Chris L

@LAofAnaheim

I suppose the difference between a streetcar and the Expo line is the potential for more economic development along Figueora w/ a streetcar. The streetcar in the rendering runs directly down Fig, and would have many more stops, likely spurring all kinds of new retail and housing developments.

While light rail is understood to be primarily a mode of transportation, streetcars are viewed more as a hybrid between transportation mode and economic development tool. If you’ve ever Jarret Walker speak or read his Human Transit blog, he makes the case that streetcars function pretty poorly as transportation; the average speed of the Portland Streetcar is something like 7 mph now. But you sure as hell can’t argue with what it’s done for development in the Pearl District.

stungry

Why is there an increase in the number of people in each of the visual simulations? Seems misleading. I like lots of people and a vibrant public space, but I also like tranist. Can’t I have both? This should really show street sections with measurements of width for the lanes and sidewalks, bike lanes, transit, etc…

http://www.failblog.org the dude abides

They should ditch the “living streets” ideals and make Fig one lane each way and then make the rest of the space available for parking and tailgating for the various sports venues that AEG will milk profit from.

Who needs more shops and transit when you can park an RV and throw some ribs on the rack prior to watching the LA whateverteamisstupidenoughtocometoLA at FamerJohns field.

http://bikesfortherestofus.com Joseph E

Aren’t Option 2 and Option 3 the same thing, just seen from different sides?

Mark Vallianatos

In #3, changing the street configuration seems to have also legalized sidewalk vending in the City of Los Angeles. So that one gets my vote.

Word On The Street

“With 6 to 7 million cars registered in LA County, it's really laughable to hear the supposedly most progressive thinkers around on the topic go for reducing the number of autos by a mere 100,000 by 2020! Why not 3.5 million? Cut the damn things in half.”